1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tape drive apparatus capable of making record or reproduction to or from a magnetic tape.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, there is known a tape streamer which uses a magnetic tape as a recording medium and can make relatively large capacity record. When the magnetic tape is used, pre-formatting is carried out to form a desired partition, and record or reproduction of desired data is made to or from a data area formed in this partition.
By the way, in the case where the partition is formed, pre-formatting is made to the magnetic tape to form a management information area necessary for record/reproduction of data, such as a device area and a system area, and a data area in which record/reproduction of data is made. In the case where a plurality of partitions are formed on the magnetic tape by this pre-formatting, as to partitions except the final partition, the pre-formatting is made from the beginning of the magnetic tape, so that an unformatted area is not formed between the respective partitions.
That is, data are recorded for forming the necessary device area and system area from the beginning of the magnetic tape, and further, in the data area, bytes to which dummy data of, for example, all zeros are specified are recorded.
Thus, when the pre-formatting is made to form the partitions, a considerable time is required. For example, in the case where two partitions each having, for example, 12.5 GB are formed for the magnetic tape having, for example, a capacity of 25 GB, when it is assumed that the maximum transfer speed at one time speed of a tape drive apparatus is 3 MB/sec, a time required for pre-formatting becomes (25÷2)÷3, so that about 69 minutes is necessary for forming only the first partition. Like this, to form the partitions by making pre-formatting becomes processing which requires a considerable time.
That is, in the case where a tape cassette is newly used, or in the case where partitions are again formed to a tape cassette under use, there is a problem that it is necessary to carry out such a processing step requiring a considerable time.
In order to solve such a problem, according to the present invention, a tape drive apparatus is structured by comprising tape drive means for recording or reproducing information to or from a magnetic tape when a tape cassette containing the magnetic tape is loaded; memory drive means for, in a case where the loaded tape cassette is provided with a memory for storing management information to manage recording or reproducing to or from the magnetic tape, reading or writing the management information from or to the memory; tape running means for running the magnetic tape; tape running amount detecting means for detecting a running amount of the magnetic tape run by the tape running means; tape running amount calculating means for calculating a tape running amount corresponding to a capacity of a data area of a partition to be formed on the magnetic tape; and control means for controlling the tape drive means and the tape running means such that in a case where at least each of first to (nxe2x88x921)-th partitions (where, xe2x80x9cnxe2x80x9d is the number of the partitions to be formed) is formed on the magnetic tape, after a first management information area is formed from a necessary position on the magnetic tape, tape running is executed by the tape running means in a period until running of the magnetic tape corresponding to the tape running amount calculated by the tape running amount calculating means is detected, and thereafter, a second management information area is formed on the magnetic tape so that one partition is formed.
Further, the control means causes the magnetic tape in a position corresponding to the data area to run at a speed higher than that in a case where the first and second information management areas are formed.
Moreover, a tape drive apparatus is structured by comprising tape drive means for recording or reproducing information to or from a magnetic tape when a tape cassette containing the magnetic tape is loaded; memory drive means for, in a case where the loaded tape cassette is provided with a memory for storing management information to manage recording or reproducing to or from the magnetic tape, reading or writing the management information from or to the memory; tape running means for running the magnetic tape; tape running amount detecting means for detecting a running amount of the magnetic tape run by the tape running means; tape running amount calculating means for calculating a tape running amount from a certain position on the magnetic tape to a necessary position; and control means for controlling the tape drive means and the tape running means such that in a case where reading or recording of data is performed by moving the magnetic tape to a necessary partition from a present position on the magnetic tape, on the basis of identification information indicating a forming system of the partition stored in the memory, in a period until the tape running amount by the tape running amount calculating means is detected, tape is run by the tape running means, so that a recording position or a reproducing position on the magnetic tape is moved.
Further, in a case where the moving operation is performed, the control means controls the tape running means so that the magnetic tape runs at a speed higher than a speed at which a normal recording or reproducing operation is carried out.
Moreover, as a recording medium, in the recording medium comprising a magnetic tape and a memory for storing management information to manage record or reproduction to or from the magnetic tape, identification information for identifying a formation system of a partition formed on the magnetic tape is recorded in the memory.
According to the present invention, on the basis of the management information of the memory, a partition can be formed without writing in a data area. In this case, since the magnetic tape is made to run on the basis of the management information of the memory and the number of revolutions of a reel motor, a load in writing processing of data at formation of the partition can be reduced, and it becomes possible to quickly form the partition. Further, at the position corresponding to the data area, the magnetic tape is made to run at a speed faster than the case where necessary data are written in the management information area, so that it becomes possible to form the partition at a higher speed.
Moreover, even in the case where reproduction or record of data is carried out from or to the partition formed without carrying out writing in the data area, on the basis of the management information of the memory, it becomes possible to move to a desired position on the magnetic tape. In this case as well, since the magnetic tape is made to run on the basis of the management information of the memory and the number of revolutions of the reel motor, high speed movement can be realized.
Further, as the recording medium, from the management information stored in the memory, it is possible to identify the forming method of the partition made up of a first management information area, a data area, and a second management information area to the magnetic tape, so that it becomes possible to cause a tape drive apparatus corresponding to pre-formatting or skip formatting to have general-purpose properties.